If you look at the top and bottom of the gasket, one side is flat, and the other has a channel in it, making the cross-section look like a "U". The open part of the "U" needs to be installed so it faces down, toward the bottom of the piston, away from the spring. Under pressure, whileforcing the water through the grounds, the lower edge of the gasket will flare out, providing a secure seal and possibly ending the scraping you are experiencing.

The gasket closest to the spring is a U shape, with the flat part pointing toward the spring and the channel pointing away from the spring. The gasket farthest from the spring looks symmetrical to me, with a somewhat V shape on both sides.

So, turns out it wasn't a gasket problem. The "pin" at the top and the end of the lever that connect to it had worked to slightly off center, where there was in fact metal-on-metal scraping when pushing the lever down. I was able to recenter it a bit by taking it out and whacking it with a rubber mallet.

There is a LOT of horizontal travel on my lever. Not sure if that's normal. I need to be pretty careful in the angle when I push down to avoid the scraping.

If water drips from the group with the lever up you need new piston gaskets. Sometimes the scraping sound occurs when water hasn't been introduced into the cylinder. When have you last lubricated the lever pins?

Water doesn't drip out of the group. I lubricated the lever pins a couple of weeks ago right before my last post. At this point I'm sure there isn't an issue internal to the grouphead, it's an issue with the horizontal travel on the lever and external scraping at the joint.

Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post

Forum Rules:No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards.No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum.No SEO style postings will be tolerated. SEO related posts will result in immediate ban from CoffeeGeek.No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum.Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards.Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics.Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies.Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies.Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts.Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.